Craig Coley will get nearly $2 million after wrongful conviction in Simi Valley murders

Craig Coley, who was wrongfully convicted of a Simi Valley double murder, returned to the Simi Valley police station to remove a photo of his arrest.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

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Craig Coley visited the Simi Valley Police Department Wednesday. Coley was wrongly convicted of the Simi Valley murder of his former girlfriend and her young son in 1978 but was pardoned by Gov. Jerry Brown just before Thanksgiving and released from prison.(Photo: JUAN CARLO/THE STAR)Buy Photo

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Thursday allowing for the distribution of nearly $2 million to a man pardoned from a Simi Valley double murder case in 1978, the largest single payment issued by the state for a wrongful conviction.

Craig Richard Coley, 70, said the money will help him restart his life outside of custody.

“I’m 70 years old, but it’s a head start,” Coley said.

The nearly sum was determined at a rate of $140 per day of wrongful incarceration. Coley spent 13,991 days in prison, leading to a total amount of $1,957,740 approved for compensation. The funds are exempt from state and federal taxation.

Coley was accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend Rhonda Wicht, 24, and her son Donald Wicht, 4, at their home in Simi Valley on Nov. 11, 1978. The two were found dead in their beds at their apartment on Buyers Street; she was apparently strangled by a macramé rope and her son was smothered to death. Coley was arrested later that same day and convicted in 1980, receiving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Coley spent nearly four decades in custody, maintaining his innocence the entire time. Simi Valley police reopened the murder case investigation in 2016. Forensic analysis of DNA evidence from the crime scene later showed Coley did not commit the crime. Brown issued a full pardon for Coley on Nov. 22 of last year, 39 years after his initial arrest.

The compensatory sum was awarded in Senate Bill 941, which was introduced to the state Legislature on Jan. 29 by Sen. Ricardo Lara and signed into law by Brown on Thursday.

“In order to pay claims against the state and end hardship to claimants as quickly as possible, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately,” the bill states.

According to Chris Van Horne, a spokesman for the California Victim Compensation Board, the California Controller’s Office will issue the money as a check in the coming weeks using money from the state’s general fund. The check will be given to the board, which will then send it to the victim or his attorneys.

Van Horne said the nearly $2 million sum is the single largest amount approved for a wrongful conviction in the state’s history, in part due to the compensation rate being raised in 2015 from $100 to $140 per day in custody to adjust for inflation.

The previous record was set with the exoneration of Kash Delano Register, who received approximately $1.7 million from the state after spending 34 years in prison for a murder and robbery case out of West Los Angeles. However, settlements with county and city governments have led to larger sums issued for wrongful convictions in the state.

Coley declined to comment on possible future litigation.

Coley said he has planned several uses for the recently approved funds, both material and experiential.

“I want to buy a house and a car,” Coley said. “I’ll have a little independence and stop relying on other people to take care of myself. I’ll see friends I haven’t seen for a while.”